Asia Express - East Asian ICT
Computing - Japan PC Sales Grow for Third Straight Quarter
November 02, 2004
Newly published figures from JEITA (Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association) show that the Japanese market has maintained growth in PC sales for the third quarter in a row. Between July and September 2004, PC sales volume for the Japanese market totaled more than 2.9 million units, marking 11% year-on-year growth. Total sales value hit 418 billion yen (US$3.9 billion), representing growth of 4% year-on-year.

 

JEITA's figures include sales from Dell, but even if the direct-sales computer maker were not included, sales would still be up in comparison with last year. JEITA attributes growth in PC sales to increased corporate IT replacement demand and a higher amount of new purchases, as well as aggressive rollouts of AV PCs.

 

JEITA's data also reveal that total PC sales grew by 7% year-on-year for the period April to September 2004. Nearly 5.5 million PCs were sold in the Japanese market for a total of 792 billion yen (US$7.4 billion), a slight dip of one percent in sales value. ASP (Average Selling Price) dropped 3% to 143,000 yen (US$1345).

 

Servers and desktop PCs accounted for 47% of the Japanese PC market between April and September 2004, while notebook PCs made up 53%. Sales of the A4 size range of notebook PCs shrunk by 4% year-on-year, just short of 2.1 million units. Sales of the smaller B5 sized notebook models (which weigh around 2kg or less), on the other hand, grew by 25% year-on-year to total 815,000 units. These growth patterns were attributed to two root causes: corporate clients tend to prefer lightweight notebook units, while customers who do not require mobility opt for desktop units rather than bulkier-sized notebooks.